The continuing story of Alice

G'Day Mates,

After this sad break, we continue with the Alice story.......


When we left Ellery Creek we went to Ochre Pitts which was also very nice to see;

look at his coloured cheeks

Then we continued the road

back to Alice where we wanted to stay a few more days but then in another caravan park near the centre so we could walk to the shops.

One night, we had to celebrate a few things so we decided to go out for dinner. Fred had found a club not far from us, with reasonable prices and a lot specials so we put on nice cloths and went walking. We came to a roundabout and had to go into Milner road but on both sides was Milner road so we went left. After a few meters we found ourselves in an industrial area so we thought it would be better to call the club and ask the way.

Of course we had to go right and the instructions were to go past some shops and a school but it was "a fair bit still" the lady on the phone said. We kept on walking and suddenly the shops came in sight with a police officer in front talking into his jacket in which we found out was a walkie talkie hidden. On the opposite side were a few police cars with flickering lights.

I asked the police officer if the club was far still and he pointed at a lighted sign somewhere in the distance and said we had to wait till the people coming towards us had passed and then we had to urge as quick as possible to that sign and he would keep an eye on us. Then he said: "when you go back, TAKE A CAB, because in Alice Springs it's too dangerous to walk on the streets after dark"!!


We had a great night, we had dinner for $ 70.00 including wine, we put $ 2.00 in the pokies and won about $ 80.00!! 

We took the courtesy bus back to the caravan park and then we knew why our caravan park had these huge gates;

and why the liquor shops have a permanent police officer in front. The liquor shops are open at 2 pm and you can only buy a bit heavier stuff like fortified whine, port, sherry after 6 o'clock.

This is all about the aboriginal people, a lot of them are drunk most of the time, they get aggressive and it seems they don't wash themselves because the smell often is unbearable. I have even seen that a shop owner sprayed nice smelling stuff in his shop as soon a few aboriginal "clients" left the shop.

Of course there are also good willing people who have a job and live a normal life but most don't.....

What a coincident;
One night in Alice, Fred cooked boerenkool which is a "stamppot" (Kale smashed with potatoes), and we were having fun about it because this is a recipe you make in the Netherlands in winter, during hunting season, freezing cold, snow, rain etc. On these hunting’s most shot animals are rabbits. My father was a hunter and in winter we often went with him and a mob hunting and then he made snert (pea soup), or boerenkool. 

We are in Alice Springs, it's 39 degrees during day and now at dinner time still 30 degrees when we are having our stamppot. I may be wrong but rabbits are not very common here, anyhow we haven't seen them for months so....... We are having our stamppot and a rabbit comes by. We looked at each other and really had a laugh........ Isn't that a coincident.

That's it for now folks, see you soon!!

Cheers

For a lovely person

In addition to my story of 24-10-2013; Mixed Emotions.

Welcome to Alice

Alice Springs is just as Darwin another city but much smaller. The first week we were situated at a caravan park called Temple Bar caravan park, 15 k's out of Alice but located at a beautiful spot. 

It was a very nice park and although there were a lot permanent residents it was nice and quiet. The only thing was that they were renovating the women amenities and that gave a bit of annoyance but he, they have to do their job don’t they!

That week we didn't do much except writing some blogs, waiting for some mail, going shopping and went to the market on Sunday.

Once when we got home there was a Willy Nilly passing in front of us over the road:

The entrance of the caravan park

 

The biggest attraction around Alice are the East and West MacDonnell Ranges, we have been there once before but visited every thing just in one day so we decided to go to Ellery Creek Big Hole in the west ranges for a few days and have a nice swim in the large waterhole. Camping at Ellery Creek was just $ 5.00 p/p per day.

the water was freezing cold, but very refreshing....

Being there we also discovered a walk, the Dolomite Walk which I can highly recommend if you ever go to Ellery Creek!! Just enjoy the pictures.......;

Remember; Ellery Creek, Dolomite Walk!!

Aah, still so much to tell about Alice so......to be continued!!

Till next time!

Sad decision

We had to make a sad decision. NO we're not going back to Holland (yet?) but we not are going to the West as we wanted, but back south. Most probably we're not going to Victoria but stay somewhere in South Australia , but also that depends on how expensive it is over there.

First of all we are a bit fed up with the heat, every day approx. 35/40 is too much. 

But most of all it's our finance. We are running out of savings and that's because the North is very expensive. We have heard the West is even worse, petrol would be over $ 2.00 and the caravan parks are outrages in price. Now I hear you thinking ; "but you can camp free?" And yes, sometimes we can but even with the extra solar panel we bought, we can't stay on a free camp more then 2 nights because of the heat.

You have seen we were in Litchfield park and would have wanted to stay another night but it was so bloody hot that the trees wanted to be in their own shadow!

Inside the caravan it was 40 degrees and in the fridge, which is running on gas when we don't have power, the temperature was at the end 21 degrees, well sorry but that's not cool. Our Waeco, which is a freezer and full of meat, is always on -11degr. and now was slowly going up till -6. It then draws so much power to try to keep cool, that the battery went low and the Waeco stopped working so we packed our things and went to a caravan park to load up again.

We stayed a few days in Katherine and Tennant Creek again before heading south. 

Between Katherine and Tennant creek there isn't much so we stopped along the road at a free camping spot. Again it was very hot and there was hardly any shade but we opened all windows and there was a fair bit of wind so it was bearable.

Because actually the high season in the north is over and all Victorian and South Australian grey nomads are going home for the summer and season holidays, there are very much less caravans and campers on the road.
When we were at the camp already for a few hours and still by our own, it didn't feel good and we decided to leave if there was still no one else at about 5 o'clock. This decision was also made because I had seen (I thought) twice the same old red car passing very slowly and I really didn't feel comfortable with that.

Fortunately at about half past 4, a man with a small fold able caravan came and also a camper van with 2 English girls came at the spot and stayed. The only terrible thing were the damn flies, thousands want to creep in your ears, nose, eyes brrrr. But at certain time they leave and then we had the most marvellous night, full moon which lightened the whole area, we were on a hill and had a beautiful view.

Lying in bed with all windows and curtains open, looking to the sky with all the stars and the full moon, actually a pity you have to close your eyes to go to sleep.
So.........after a few romantic moments we went outside again with a glass of wine, gazing at the stars till we nearly fell asleep…..

Further on our way after Tennant Creek we passed the Devils Marbles;

The Devils Marbles is for the Aboriginal people a sacred site.....

So unfortunately this time you won't get stories from the West, maybe later.
Fortunately we now will pass Uluru (Ayers Rock) and we've never been there before so that will be a visit definitely. But first, LETS GO TO Alice! In the middle of Australia!

Anyhow, you know us; wherever we go, we're having fun and will have adventures to share, so keep looking!!

Litchfield National Park

G'day Mates!

From Darwin we went down to Litchfield National Park.

Just after the entrance our first stop was at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. You already have seen through my blogs that there are a lot different termite/ant houses, this is a field  with mounds that stand up to two metres with the thin edges pointing north-south, minimising their exposure to the sun.

Isn't it amazing these small animals can build this!

This is the impressive cathedral termite mound up to 6 metres tall.

After this we arrived at Wangi Falls, here you can camp without power but showers and toilets were there. You take a form out of a box, on the form which you fill out, is a little bag in which you put the requested money and this bag you put in a box at the entrance of the park. Its all about honesty!

With our extra folding solar panel we hope we can stay a bit longer....

our view...

There was a great waterhole in which you can swim, have a nice story about that later!

The Wangi Falls;

Watch the movie...

At night, we were peacefully sitting outside, when suddenly I heard a lot of noise coming out of the bush and at seemed like something big was running our way, and then we saw a huge wild pig passing us at about just 2 meters in front of us, brrrrr, he was to quick to make a picture.....

This was a very special bird, they have entertained us the days we were there. This one I know haha, it is the Great Bower bird, the sexes are similar but the male has a lilac nape crest which forms a rosette in display. The male tries to seduce the female by gathering special things........

In the film its hard to see the rosette but on the picture you can see it quite well...

here you can see what he has collected, he lays it under a tree and they come back to this tree all the time, it looks like they dance around the tree and she is looking what he has gathered..... 

he shows her what he has found and then he often shows her the back of his head on which the rosette appears.......

Sometimes suddenly another male comes between them and then he starts to show the lady what is under the tree but that's not fair, he didn't collect it!

We have been watching this for three days and the poor fella kept seducing and we will never know if he succeeded...

In the mean time the bird also was very busy to protect his treasures.....

At last the little Wallaby left, getting enough of the hissing of the bird.....

We wanted to stay another day in Wangi Falls to go to Florence Falls which was approx. 25 k's back down the road when our neighbour said he was going to the Florence Falls with the caravan. Because I didn't knew you could camp there too we never thought about going there with the caravan so we also packed our things and took off to Florence Falls. When we came at that camp the sign on the road said that caravans weren't allowed so we were very angry and didn't know what to do. Fortunately my bible said opposite, so we turned and tried our luck by driving into that dirt road. It was just 1 kilometre and we got into a campground again, it was much smaller then at Wangi Falls but very nice!

When we had settled we first went to Buley Rockhole;

very nice for cooling off a bit.......

I can tell you a scary story now;

After the cooling off in Buley Rockhole we went back to the caravan, had a nice drink and a meal and after that I was doing the dishes at the parks sink. There was a guy next to me also doing his dishes and we started to talk. He asked me if we had been to Wangi Falls already and so I said we left there that morning. Well he told me they had been there that afternoon and everybody was urged to come out of the water because there was a croc spotted, although he was spotted 2 k's from the swimming hole, its very scary still!!

They had closed Wangi Falls for 3 days!! Weren't we lucky!

Florence Falls from above;

Florence Falls from the swimming hole

Of course I wanted to swim there to

After the cool dive, we did a small walk which was very nice! This is all to be reached by foot from the camping ground.....

We had a marvellous time in Litchfield National Park!!

Till soon (I hope).